Barnsley: Johnson salutes fans as Scowen nears Reds return

The Reds were rooted to the bottom of League One at one stage and some fans were calling for Johnson’s head.

But it’s been a promising turnaround from Johnson’s previously misfiring side who have climbed out of the drop zone and up to 17th in the table having yet to taste defeat in 2016.

A four-game unbeaten run has been the catalyst for that rise up the standings, with new players and the core of what Johnson always believed was a competitive squad finally starting to perform.

“The support from the fans is really appreciated,” said Johnson.

“We’ve tried to stay really consistent and apologised for our really bad form earlier in the season.

“Now it looks like we’ve got 13-14 players who can now go and give a decent go in any one League One game.

“We’ve got a couple of players who can come off the [substitute’s] bench and I’d also like to add another couple.

“But I’m also pleased for the young players as well, because they’re important.

“We’re a different side now than a few months ago.

“We’ve had the core of this group for a while now – and that’s really helped.

“We’ve been able to keep the same formation and been able to keep some consistency which we needed.

“We’ve got a very consistent group which is very pleasing for a coach to have that.”

Johnson swooped to sign Preston North End midfielder Josh Brownhill on an initial one-month loan spell last month.

And with the influential Josh Scowen set to return soon from a troublesome medial knee ligament injury, Johnson is confident his side can keeping improving.

“Josh Scowen will hopefully be back in the next week to 10 days, so then we’ve got a bit of competition in the middle of the park,” revealed Johnson. “And that’s good.

“It’s good because we’ve got a lot of games coming up. I think we’ve got something like eight games in 20-odd games, so it’s really important the lads recover properly and we have as many bodies as possible at our disposal.”

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